By Peggy Phillip, RTDNA Region 4 & 5 Director/ News Director KSHB-TV Kansas City, MO

The phone rang a little after 8:00pm Tuesday night with a message from WDAF's assignment manager. 

"Please call right away, there's been a death on our news team."

I called and a strained voice answered.  The assignment manager told me that she was calling all of the TV news directors.  Don Harman, a longtime popular meteorologist on their highly rated morning news, was found dead in his home.  Police were investigating.  Next of kin had not yet been notified.  She asked us to hold off reporting until Harman's father could be reached.  I agreed and offered condolences and assistance. 

My mind immediately rewound to the murder of our assignment editor almost eighteen months ago.  Nick Dutcher surprised a burglar after returning from his regular morning walk. When Nick didn't show up for work that afternoon we asked for a welfare check.  Police discovered Nick strangled in his home.  Initially, they believed Nick committed suicide.

By 9 p .m. Tuesday, queries about Harman began to surface on Twitter, then Facebook. By midnight hundreds had posted, tweeted and re-tweeted rumors and questions.  No mainstream media had yet reported Harman's death although one online newspaper/blog briefly posted, then yanked, a story.

I was positive that WDAF would have the news on their morning news Wednesday but they didn’t and that’s when my agreement to hold the story until next of kin was notified began to feel uncomfortable.

We talked about how we would proceed, first at our weekly manager meeting and then with all reporters, producers and photographers in our daily editorial meeting.  Our sources at the police department confirmed that Harman died by suicide.  We did not report Harman’s suicide on our 11 a.m. newscast.  Some have criticized this decision.  I understand why but I stand by what we (and most of the other newsrooms in Kansas City) did.

Certainly the management at WDAF was in the most difficult position, balancing the public’s right to know with their own significant loss.

Robert Steele, a journalism and ethics expert, weighed in for the Kansas City Star.

“At some point, however, it’s very difficult to hold back on the story about this person who is very much a public figure,” Steele said. “It can be challenging finding that balance between reporting the truth, which is a journalistic obligation, and minimizing harm, which is a professional obligation.”

A few years ago, Al Tompkins brought his One-Day Storytelling Workshop to Kansas City and he specifically talked about the news media and suicide coverage.  It stayed with me.  Especially his contention that coverage of suicide does not match reality:  Suicide is a major public health problem, the eleventh leading cause of death in the United States and top five in age groups for people between 10-44 years old, according to the CDC.  This is substantially higher than murder.

I found the RTDNF workbook on ethical decision-making, “Newsroom Ethics—Decision-Making for Quality Coverage,” printed the media recommendations for reporting on suicide and distributed them to our news team. 

We led our 4:30 p.m. and 5 p.m. newscasts with profile pieces on Harman followed by information to inform our viewers about warning signs and trends as well as suicide prevention telephone numbers.  We tried to keep in mind how we would react if he were another local celebrity, like the Chiefs quarterback or prominent politician.  It wasn't easy and the discussions were emotional.

We received a handful of critical messages from viewers after our early evening news, complaining that the cause of death was not the public’s business and that we only reported it to make our competition “look bad.”  One suggested that WDAF “sue our asses.”

We will continue the dialogue in our newsroom about this and other coverage issues but what I continue to wrestle with happened Tuesday night and Wednesday morning on social media as thousands of people shared questions, rumors and false information about Don Harman while waiting for an official announcement.  News consumers are more involved than ever before.  Our decisions require common sense and plenty of discussion.  We have to be overt about the process and our journalistic practice.

More Info: http://reportingonsuicide.org/

 

POST A COMMENT

Mews room ethics

When learned of Don's death, something felt "off", like there was something missing in the report. But I figured that would be reported later, after an investigation. Or, I'd forget about it and move on with my life.

I'm wondering why there is even an issue to be upset with. Don't the police withhold information till a cause of death is determined and next of kin is notified? Why should it be different in this case? I'm still not seeing where the issue of 'questionable ethics' even comes anywhere close to being near this situation. Just because information dissemination is almost instantaneous doesn't mean we 'have the right' or are owed anything instantly

I saw the AM crew deliver the news through their tears and was impressed with their candid openness in an extremely hard circustance. They weren't hiding anything. They just wanted to inform the father in person. What's wrong with that? His Dad finding out from TV that his son committed suicide would be the same as finding out your brother or sister just had a baby.

So, kudos to the FOX4 team for how they handled everything and, Sorry for your loss. Which seems so inadequate, but that's all I have to offer.

Reporting Suicides

Other than being a locally known tv weatherman this individual is no different than Joe Q. public. It certainly does not need to lead newscasts at other stations. A mention of his passing and info on services is all the public really needs to know from the other news outlets unless something "newsworthy" emerges from a ME report or police.
Sometimes I think there is a severe over-analyzation of what we deem news to be to the general public.
Unfortunately he chose to end his life, his family, friends and co-workers now grieve and must move on trying to disect whether or not we "played" the story right is a misuse of time that does not equate to viewer benefit.
I've had coworkers killed in a plane crash, auto accident as well as dying by disease, the tasteful presentation of their life's work and what they meant to viewers always outweighs the matter of death.
They are no longer here with us and that is tragic in any way shape or form. To stew over when to break the news, I'll pass.

Appropriate Coverage

Although it was a very difficult decision, I applaud the media in Kansas City for the way they handled Don's suicide. I know I would not have wanted to make the decision on reporting or not reporting, that had to be really hard.

While I never met Don, we exchanged a couple of e-mail when he broke his wrist a couple of years ago, and he came across in the e-mail much like he did on the air. His passing came as a complete shock, it's completely understandable that people would want to know what could have brought a young man, seemingly in the prime of his life, down.

We can only hope that his passing will help others that are in his situation seek help, and open other people's eyes to this terrible disease.

Rest In Peace Don -- you will be missed.

Who started the social media outbreak?

What the author is forgetting is that Social Media would not have been on the band wagon if someone in the media didn't have loose lips. Had it not been for that factor, there wouldn't have been the 'agonizing' decision of when to report it. It would have been a simple matter of let the dust settle until all the necessary steps have been taken, then report the news. simple as that.

"passed away"

Pardon me for getting really nit-picky. As a former morning EP in Kansas City who now loves out of town, I watched the story unfold via Facebook and Twitter with particular interest. One aspect that bothered me throughout the first day was the repeated use of the phrase "passed away" to describe his death. That feels off to me, like the stations were giving Harman extra reverence due to his place as a TV news insider. The phrase "passed away" carries a died-in-his-sleep connotation to me; in the hours before the suicide aspect of the story was reportable, wouldn't it be better, and more objective, to have simply said he died? (I'm assuming the suicide wasn't reported at first due to family notification, though I'm not positive that's the case.) Beyond that quibble, I was impressed with the coverage I saw, especially the way WDAF handled it the following morning. I feel very lucky I've never been faced with that kind of situation.

Coverage

The one flaw in his 'passing away' as reported by the various stations didn't make sense. if he hadn't committed suicide, the cause would have been immediately broadcast (eg, heart attack, car accident, etc..)

It didn't take much to figure out he committed suicide. Viewers aren't stupid. They can read between the lines. The lack of detail made it evident he had done what he did.

Right To Know

I've always questioned this "right to know" especially under these circumstances, Don Harman was not an elected official what he did on television every morning did not impact the public as a whole daily lives. Quite frankly we the general public do not have a right to know. The only ones who have a right to know are the immediate family and closest friends and even friends are a bit 'iffy' I certainly send my condolences to the family and the friends of Don and thank especially the family for "sharing" Don with us, he seemed to be one of the good ones.

Reporting Suicide

I was told the old school way that news stations should never report suicides. Then one day a young woman chose to dangle from a freeway overpass in my city of Sacramento, CA, causing a major freeway backup of hours. Commuters wanted to know what was causing the delay but we first chose not to say why. Then a veteran talk show host said we have an obligation to let our listeners know what's going on. We then reported a woman was attempting suicide. (She was rescued.) Now, I've wanted to do a series on suicide because of its high prevalance in some cities but I'm always faced with the dilemma of how to do it without listeners tuning out.

Coverage

I think the media handled it correctly. Where I don't feel the method in which he carried it out should be any of our business..I do feel a statement about his death...and the cause was very important for the viewers...especially since Don seemed to hold a special place in a great many hearts.

I understood when they read the statement that more info would be forth coming after his father was notified...and I feel, under the circumstances, the families are due that respect.

I do commend KSHB because they took it a step further when reporting how he died..and offering others that are afflicted with the same illness, info on where to seek help. I was greatly disappointed in 1 particular station that gave the report of his death a whole 10-15 seconds....and that was it.

My friend, Don Harman

As the GM at the station at which Don first worked, we were saddened to hear the news of his death. That sadness turned to dis-belief when we began to hear that he was a victim of suicide. We wrestled with what to say, particularly since Don grew up in our community and still has family and friends here. But we decided we had to treat this as we would any other suicide. Our rules are: if the suicide takes place in a public place (from a bridge, from the roof of a building, etc.) we report it. Or if the suicide involves a well-known person, we report it as such. The phrase "well-known" is subjective and since Don hadn't worked in this area in a number of years, it could have been argued that he was no longer a "well-known" person here. But we went with the facts, nothing more, nothing less. I felt that I owed it to all of the families of past and future suicide victims, whose details we have shared and may choose to share with our viewers and readers, to give Don the same respectful treatment as we would anyone else, but not give the news any special care, simply because we knew and loved him.

Ethics

This unfortunate incident reminds me of a plane crash in 2005. My boss was on that plane. His son heard about it on the radio and about 10 minutes after the crash news vans were showing up at the office wanting a statement. Note, his son had not yet been notified because he was on route to a job site. Johnny Rowlands did a fly-over 15 minutes later. There was no one prominent on the plane, no celebrity, no politician, no sports player.
Don Harman will be missed and I agree, it was right to wait until his father had been notified. I only hope the same courtesy is extended to other families who\'s loved ones meet an untimely demise.